MIT Workshop March 15 of Climate and Communes

Feeling helpless and hopeless about climate disruption? Some of the most powerful solutions are in places most people are not looking.

In 1985, Amory Lovins wrote the ground breaking article, “Saving Gigabuckswith Negawatts,” where he argued that utility customers don’t want kilowatt-hours of electricity; they want energy services such as hot showers, cold beer, lit rooms, and spinning shafts, which can come more cheaply if electricity is used more efficiently. Intentional communities and especially income sharing communes can use a similar approach to reducing their carbon footprint.

Same services, less electricity

You can think of communities and climate in a way similar to negawatts. People living in community don’t really care if they own a car or bicycle or set of clothing. What they want are transportation services and clothing services. If these can be provided more efficiently than through personal ownership then their needs are met. This is where radical sharing comes in and changes the entire climate discussion.

2 responses to “MIT Workshop March 15 of Climate and Communes”

I am surprised by your choice of words: “people want services…”. Who are the people who “want them” and who provides them”? I miss the “we” do it together, provide, make it, serve each other. You mention income sharing. Fine. That means sharing sharing service-giving, yes? Thaks for sharing about the MIT event. I like much what they do, like Otto Scharmer’s Theory U, Leading from the Emerging Future. GReat program!

In full disclosure, that part of the post is actually taken from Wikipedia’s definition of Negawatt. But basically i am in agreement with you. A big part of life on the communes is us helping each other and using a labor based system instead of a money based system so exactly this type of sharing you discuss happens.